MediaBox 10: Terminator Salvation.
So this is late. I mean, Terminator Salvation came out, like, last Thursday. I saw it on Friday. This review is going up on Tuesday.
Fail.
Speaking of “Fail,” I wish I could’ve warned you about this movie before it made a bunch of your money. However late, I thought I’d take a moment to warn you against McG’s miserable stab at a somewhat venerable franchise.
Just to be fair, I’ll give some credit to the often-spectacular special effects up front. Seriously, if you want to blow up some futuristic crap in awe-inspiring ways, hire the folks at ILM. They know what’s up. (A slight criticism: Why does everything look kinda plasticky?)
Unfortunately, all those wicked cool effects shots are shoehorned into an absolutely abysmal narrative. Lifeless characters, leaden dialogue, and overly blatant references to the vastly superior original films—Salvation has it all…wrong. It reads like fan-fiction, like McG and some Warner Bros. execs sat around and thought, “Let’s make another Terminator.” It wouldn’t surprise me if this picture is the result of a scribbled-on-napkins script.
And don’t get me started on the acting. Christian Bale walks through this one, doing a sort-of misty take on his Batman voice. No one stands out here, unless, of course, they are particularly bad (I’m looking at you, Michael Ironside).
Poor construction aside, Terminator Salvation is simply a difficult film to enjoy. It’s bleak, soulless, and completely devoid of the occasional light-heartedness provided by the classic movies. I missed the sympathetic Arnold character like whoa.
Scratch this one from your list of need-to-see summer movies. No 1square Seal of Approval here (which is OK, because I still don’t have an actual Seal of Approval).
Tyler
PS: What the heck kind of name is McG, anyway?
